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'Mesopotamia Commission. Report of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in Mesopotamia, together with a Special Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP, and Appendices. London: HMSO, 1917.' [‎37v] (74/248)

The record is made up of 1 volume (122 folios). It was created in 1906-1918. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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72
PART X.—MEDICAL BREAKDOWN.
C. Medical Administration of Surgeon-General Sir William Babtie. v
7,500 men being lost to the force in 19 weeks. This epidemic was definitely ascribed by a
War Office Sanitary Commission to deficiencies in the Indian ration.
43. The failure to insist on necessary precautions against so obvious a danger is,
in our opinion, a very good instance of the kind of responsibility which attaches to Sir
William Babtie for not having originally foreseen, and afterwards kept a proper oversight
over, the health needs of the troops.
44. But the gravamen of the criticism which we feel bound to pass on Sir William
Babtie is that, knowing the Army Medical Service in India to be organised only for frontier
warfare, knowing the provision of the field ambulances and hospitals to be deficient, and
knowing the medical personnel to be insufficient, he yet made no adequate efforts to
improve these defects so as to equip the Mesopotamian Expedition in a manner suitable
for campaigning in an unhealthy, tropical climate against an enemy, who was in alliance
with and supported by the foremost exponents of modern warfare.
45. We will now proceed to examine to what extent Sir William Babtie was responsible
in connection with the three main medical defects in the campaign, viz. : (1) Personnel;
(2) River hospital transport; (3) Land transport for the wounded.
Personnel,
46. The Indian authorised scale of medical personnel was calculated for the needs of
frontier warfare, where casualties were not likely to be large and the resources of India were
close behind. But Surgeon-General Babtie despatched Force “ D ” eighteen hundred
miles from its base, wuth medical personnel short even of the authorised scale. When
reinforcements were sent he took, or acquiesced in, measures which even further reduced
this exiguous scale, so that in the words of the Yincent-Bingley Commission “ whereas the
force was increased to two divisions 'plus a cavalry brigade, the medical establishment was,
save for the addition of seven sections of a field ambulance, that which had been thought
necessary for one division only.” And Sir William Babtie himself admitted to us that
each division was only supplied with twelve sections of field ambulance instead of the ^
proper complement of twenty.
47. As regards hospitals the position was equally bad. The strength of the Force
was doubled during Sir William Babtie’s administration, but no additional hospitals
whatever were sent over by him. Attempts were made to meet the deficiencies locally
by expanding the existing hospitals in Mesopotamia. On April 22nd, Colonel Hehir
informed Sir W. Babtie, that the British and Indian General Hospitals had been thus
extended from 250 to 350, and from 600 to 1,000 beds respectively. No additional per
sonnel was despatched by Sir W. Babtie to meet these extensions, and in response to
demands for it, Mesopotamia was even told to obtain personnel from the Field Ambulances’
Staffs, which, as we have shown, were already gravely deficient. The additional equipment
required was not all in Mesopotamia even as late as October, 1915. The hospital expansions
were in fact, in Sir W. Babtie’s time, to a large degree merely “ paper expansions.”
48. The medical position was, therefore, obviously a highly dangerous one It has been
justified by Sir William Babtie on the ground broadly that it was necessary to economise in
Mesopotamia in order to provide for the medical needs of forces mobilised in India for
internal defence. We have examined the memorandum on this subject prepared by Col.
Hendley, A.D.M.S., about a fortnight after Sir W. Babtie’s departure from India.
From this document, the gist of which was telegraphed to the Secretary of State on
July 3rd, it would appear that all the medical personnel was at that date retained in India,
which was necessary for frontier and internal defence and that there was a small margin
i j over. We are not convinced that the policy of preparing for possible warfare in
India at the expense of actual warfare in Mesopotamia was justifiable. But even if this be
conceded as a justification for allowing Mesopotamia to be severely understaffed in medical
personnel, it wa,s, in our opinion, clearly the duty of Surgeon-General Babtie to impress on
the authorities in India and at home, the dangers of such a proceeding and to have urged
strongly upon the authorities in India that they should apply to England for assistance.
This he does not seem to have done, and it is noteworthy that the first demand for assistance
from England was sent almost immediately after Sir William Babtie’s departure from
India, and was promptly complied with, although the Home Government was only given ^
a very misleading account of the actual deficiencies in medical personnel in
Mesopotamia.

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Content

A signed proof, folios 1-100, plus additional material, folios 101-124. The cover bears the signature of Sir Arthur Hirtzel, Assistant Under-Secretary of State. The report has been annotated in blue pencil at various points.

Contents:

  • 'Part I. Preface.
  • 'Part II. Origin of Mesopotamia [Iraq] Expedition.'
  • 'Part III. Advance from Basra to Kurna.'
  • 'Part IV. The Advance to Amara [Al-'Amārah] and Kut [Al-Kūt].'
  • 'Part V. Correspondence and Telegrams as to Advance on Baghdad.'
  • 'Part VI. The Advance from Kut to Ctesiphon.'
  • 'Part VII. Operations for Relief of Kut.'
  • 'Part VIII. Armament, Equipment, Reinforcements, &c.'
  • 'Part IX. Transport.'
  • 'Part X. Medical Breakdown.'
  • 'Part XI. Causes Contributing to the Errors of Judgement and Shortcomings of Responsible Authorities.'
  • 'Part XII. Findings and Conclusions. Recommendations.'
  • 'Separate Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP.'
  • 'Appendix I. Vincent-Bingley Report.'
  • 'Appendix II. Memorandum by Sir Beauchamp Duff.'
  • 'Appendix III. Colonel Hehir's Account of the Siege of Kut-el-Amara.'

Additional material:

  • Folio 101. Manuscript note [by Arthur Hirtzel] on net military expenditure.
  • Folios 102-109. Copy of the East India (Army Administration), Further Papers regarding the Administration of the Army in India , 1906.
  • Folios 110-115. Manuscript notes, titled 'Suggested redraft & amplification of second half of parag 1' [unknown hand].
  • Folio 116. A clipping from the Daily Telegraph , Wednesday 4 July 1917, featuring an article titled 'Mesopotamia. Ex-Viceroy's Statement. The Medical Breakdown.'
  • Folios 117-124. An expanded typescript version of Hirtzel's manuscript notes (folio 101).
Extent and format
1 volume (122 folios)
Arrangement

A table of contents can be found at folio 4v.

An index can be found at folios 93-97.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 124; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 110-115; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence. The volume comprises a stitched pamphlet, and other stitched and loose-leaf material.

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English in Latin script
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'Mesopotamia Commission. Report of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in Mesopotamia, together with a Special Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP, and Appendices. London: HMSO, 1917.' [‎37v] (74/248), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/257, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100036338403.0x00004b> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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